Catechins are reported to have the ability to suppress an increase in cholesterol, an inhibitory action on amylase-activity, and the like (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). For such physiological effects to manifest, it is necessary for an adult to drink 4 to 5 cups of tea a day. Hence there has been a strong demand for a technology that enables a beverage to contain a high concentration of catechins so that a large amount of catechins can be conveniently ingested. As one of such technologies, there is a method that is designed to add dissolved catechins to a beverage by using a purified product of green tea extract (see Patent Documents 3 to 5) or the like.
Meanwhile, more beverages have been reported so far, such as a beverage fortified with calcium as a nutrient necessary for the body and a beverage containing minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron mixed therein and a beverage containing catechins and minerals. Even more, beverages, which contain a tea extract and caffeine and are fortified with vitamin B, have been reported by other documents (see Patent Documents 6 to 12).    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-03-168046    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-10-004919    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-2002-238518    [Patent Document 4] JP-A-2004-129662    [Patent Document 5] JP-A-2004-159641    [Patent Document 6] JP-A-07-327648    [Patent Document 7] JP-A-08-501449    [Patent Document 8] U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,955    [Patent Document 9] US-A-2005/0003068    [Patent Document 10] US-A-2006/0177559    [Patent Document 11] US-A-2006/0096547    [Patent Document 12] US-A-2002/0187219